International Workshops

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International Workshops organized by the Puglia
Regional Environmental Agency (ARPA Puglia) DG
Environment and DG Joint Research Centre of the
European Commission, in collaboration with and
support of the Puglia Region, the Italian
Ministry of Environment and the Italian Agency
for Environmental Protection and Technical
Services (APAT)
Pilot River Basins The Mediterranean Dimension
and
Linking Rural Development and Land Degradation
Mitigation with River Basin Management Plans
Ostuni (Br), Italy, Grand Hotel Rosamarina 22-24
September 2004
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The watershed is recognised as the territorial
unit where problems are environmentally linked
and integrated actions can be taken. The Pilot
River Basin Network (PRB) evaluates
implementation of the WFD within Member States
and indicates directions for compiling river
basin management plans. Mediterranean catchments
have their characteristic problems heavily
related to water supply and consumption.
  Within Mediterranean watersheds distinctive
management issues clearly touch other thematic
fields, disciplines and policies. Soil erosion
and desertification are severe threats and relate
to agricultural practices, water and land use.
The fragile Mediterranean area requires specific
farming practices to keep land degradation under
control and to minimise contamination. Hence,
linking rural development and basin management
plans will strengthen the coordination of water
and soil management.
To ensure overall sustainability, combined
solutions will need to be constructed which reach
far beyond a single policy context.
Sharing Mediterranean PRB experiences and
discussion on concepts of river basin management
plans as drivers for integrated resource
management.   Open to managers with natural
resources responsibilities from all over the
Mediterranean area
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PRB Mediterranean Dimension
The major objective of this Workshop is to
evaluate the progress made so far in terms of
Article 5 requirements, and address several key
issues specific to the Mediterranean PRBs.
Contributions are encouraged from other river
basins in the Mediterranean area in order to
compare experiences acquired so far in the
starting phase of WFD implementation. This will
be also debated in relation to the Mediterranean
Component of the EU Water Initiative, which
intends to reinforce existing partnerships,
bilateral and regional programmes through
networking of building blocks.
Other topics suggested by Mediterranean PRBs -
Minimum ecological flow. - Pressure analysis and
establishment of reference conditions on
lower reaches of Mediterranean watercourses. -
Establishment of chemical GW status and risk
assessment of failing to achieve good status.
Rural Development and land degradation with RBMP
Presentation and discussion of case studies
showing approaches for implementation of
cross-cutting policies integrated with watershed
management and aiming at sustainable use of
resources Further on, learning on these case
studies, discussions will be held in Working
Groups along specific topics and finally
conclusions will be drawn on how to deal with
integration of cross-cutting issues in the
development of river basin management plans. The
workshop is to be a forum to exchange and build
on experiences.

• Working Groups will provide recommendations on
  topics as
• Needs and information
• Multi-stakeholder needs
• Information and knowledge pooling
• Processes and hurdles
• Participatory processes
• Factors limiting policy integration on the
  ground and how to overcome them
• Instruments and harmonisation
• River Basin Management Plans as drivers for
  policy collaboration and organisational issues
• Mediterranean wide harmonisation of
  environmental policies at watershed scale
• Watershed based observational networks in the
  Mediterranean

MED EUWI - Extra Session
Integrated Resources Water Management (IWRM)
issue is one of the 4 focus themes of the Med
component of the EU Water initiative. The PRB
Mediterranean network organised under the Common
Implementation strategy of the Water Framework
Directive constitutes the opportunity to liase
with one of the priorities of the EUWI Med
component. A process will be established for
sharing practices and experiences between EU and
non-EU partners in the framework of the
Mediterranean PRB network.
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Source http//www.junior.te.pt
source FAO http//www.fao.org/english/newsroom/p
hotofile/index.html

• For information on practical arrangements and
  Registration, pls. address to
• http//viso.ei.jrc.it/prb_im/index.html
• For further technical and scientific information,
  pls. address to
• Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
  (JRC)
• Institute for Environment and Sustainability
  (IES)
• Via E. Fermi, TP 460, I-21020 Ispra (VA), ITALY
• Michael Cherlet
• Giovanni Bidoglio
• Jose' Manuel Zaldivar
• Tel [phone] / Fax [phone]
• Michael.Cherlet_at_jrc.it
• European Commission DG Environment Marta
  Moren Abat
• Tel. [phone]  / Fax. [phone]
• marta-cristina.moren-abat_at_cec.eu.int
• Sylvie Detoc
• Tel  [phone] / Fax [phone]